March Highlights

1. Will now eats regular food at every meal.
2. Will can drink "thin" liquids without aspirating.
3. PEG (feeding) tube is removed.
4. Will's speech becomes understandable.
5. Will begins to initiate activities on his own, mostly reading.
6. Will shows increased control of his soft palate--a promise of better speech to come.
7. General alertness increases over the month.

Graduation Day

Will asked how far he'd gotten in school. "Why?", we asked. Because he couldn't remember graduating.

"Yes, you graduated. You got an M.D. Now you're a doctor."

A few days later he said he still couldn't remember graduating. "But there were witnesses. Mom and I were there and watched it happen." "And you must have a diploma." (But that's still in Columbus.)

A few minutes later Will brought out his computer. We looked through his photos, and there they were: pictures Will took at the Shoe, including one he took of himself. The pictures unlocked his memory, and now he could remember that President Clinton gave the address, and he was one of the first in line when the graduates filed out.

"So Will, now do you believe you graduated?"

"Hmmm. I'm not sure. But it does prove I was in the line."

Spring Workout

I asked Dr. Edgley what physical activities were ok for Will. Could he jog? Could he run?

Dr. Edgley: "Will, can you run?"

Will: "I dunno. I can't remember trying. I don't see why not."

So this afternoon Will and I went to the Bountiful High track. Will took off like a jackrabbit. I hoped he couldn't keep it up, 'cause I knew I couldn't. After half a lap Will looked over his shoulder to see me struggling, and took pity. He slowed down to a manageable (for me) pace and we enjoyed a few more laps on a brisk, sunny afternoon.

Say "Ahhhhhh"

Wednesday was a great day for Will and for all who have been praying for him. He got up, ate breakfast, showered, shaved for the first time, put in his contacs, skunked his mom at several games of "Fish," and waited for his speech therapist to come.

When she came, she asked him to say "Ahhhhhhhhh." She was looking in his mouth while he did this and was totally blown away. The muscles of his soft pallet were lifting! Hallelujah!!! That nasal tonality in his speech was no longer his only option. He could actually speak through his mouth like an Englishman rather than through his nose like a Frenchie. He was then asked to read an article from the Salt Lake Tribune about the war in Iraq. He broke it up into small segments and read each one until he could do it clearly and distinctly. The result was very intelligible speech.

His homework was to continue saying "Ahhhh," in front of the mirror so he could make sure his soft pallet was getting a good work-out and practicing his elocution strategies in every day conversation.

PEG tube came out today !!

Will was early to his GI clinic appointment at 11 am, and they took him in right on time. Will's appointment was with Mary O'Rourke, a Physicians Assistant-Certified. She made a call to Columbus to find out what size tube Will had in his stomach, and then asked Will if he minded if she invited a student in to watch the removal. Will said he had no objection, explaining that he had once been a medical student too.

I had volunteered not to watch the insertion of the PEG tube, but I thought I could stand to watch its removal. The procedure for removal is to grab the tube and pull really hard until it pops out. I could've done it, but was sure glad I didn't have to. For a brief moment it looked like Will's innards were being extracted from his abdomen through a very small hole. Mary warned that it would hurt really bad, but only briefly. Will's OW! told us her description was accurate.

Will takes one adult aspirin a day, so they expected some bleeding, and got it. Another nurse came in to apply pressure to the tube site for 15 minutes. After that time the bleeding had stopped. They put new gauze and a pressure bandage on him, and we were free to go home. The bandage can be removed after 24 hours. The site heals from the inside out, and there are no restrictions on what Will can eat while it's healing.

Ohio and the Ties that Bind

Monday was a great day for Will. Two of his buddies from Ohio, Chris DeMoux and Christian Bahr, dropped by with boxes from Riverside. Chris brought framed pictures of some of Will's fellow residents, a BYU Cougar, a red monkey, Melanie’s hospital troll, Will’s contacs and a silk flower arrangement from Marilyn Neilson. He also promised to send Will some Buckeyes if he wanted them. Christian brought the OSU blanket, Katie Vasil, one of the residents made and the Rachmoninoff CD Dr. Glasgow had given him. It was so good to have these favorite items back in our possession.
Chris told Will they would miss him at the next Elder’s Quorum activity, a March Madness dinner featuring Pizza and Wings. He also said the Relief Society had consented to allow the Elders to join their book group provided they could recite a poem first. The book to be read is The Chosen, but the poem was not stated. Will had already read The Chosen, and gave two thumbs up to the Relief Society’s selection committee. He would love to be there for the discussion. Also on Monday Will worked out on the bowflex, did a crossword puzzle with Mom, played the piano, played basket ball with Nate and Jess and agreed to working on shaving tomorrow. (Jeremy's challenge for a beard-out continues to be a bit of a priority, thus the perpetual procrastination.)

PEG tube; New meds

Last Wednesday was the six-week anniversary of Will's PEG tube (feeding tube) insertion. Six weeks is the minimum time it had to stay in to prevent scarring. The therapists observed that Will was making great progress on being able to drink thin liquids (e.g., water), so they alerted Dr. Edgley and we went to him on Thursday to get his assessment about removing the tube. His conclusion was that the tube could come out that day. We tried to get an appointment for that afternoon, but had to settle for a time next Tuesday.

PEG tube removal is a prerequisite for the heart procedure. We have a call in to the Cath Lab to set that up for next week.

Dr. Edgley also made some changes to Will's prescriptions. Will will begin taking a number of over-the-counter supplements. He is also taking Aricept now to help his short-term memory. The benefit of that appears over the long term after steady use. The third change is to substiture dextroamphetamine for Provigil to help Will's alertness. Provigil is a newer formulation without much history of its benefits. Dextroamphetamine has been around longer and has been shown to have benefits for cognition.

Buddies, Blizzards and Buckeye Fever

When Will got home from his visit with Dr. Edgely, he was greeted by Claudia Peterson, the mother of Bryce Peterson, one of his Bountiful buddies now attending Ohio State medical school. Claudia had been to the Iceburg and brought with her two giant milk shakes for Will to choose from, one chocolate chip and one mint chocolate chip. Decisions, decisions!!! He sat there debating which to go for and finally decided to wait until he was watching the BYU basketball game later in the day. They talked about Buckeye fever and the fact that the whole town of Columbus, Ohio shuts down on game days, even the store clerks won’t wait on you because they’re all clustered around the television sets at the back of the store. She also commented on all the cute girls in the Singles Ward and how lucky Will was to get acquainted with all of these outstanding young women. She thought he had shown great restraint in not tying the knot with one of them already. He had also shown perfect timing in getting out of Columbus before the big snow storms hit. Will acknowledged that Columbians don’t have a clue about handling snow, so it is good to be as far away as possible when they get a blizzard.

Zeroing in on Cognition,the Peg Tube, and the PFO

Thursday Lisa and Kiera, the speech therapists, came with Betty Boughter and her bitter butter, and the Tutor who tooted the flute and tried to tutor two tooters to toot. Will was having a great time tying his tongue around those tongue twisters, but he had to tell the ladies to leave because he had to get to his appointment with Dr. Edgely.

The doctor was very interested in advancing Will’s memory and cognitive skills and stream-lining the therapy sessions to focus on the key areas that need retooling the most. Dr. Edgely also had rave reviews for Will’s uncle, who had e-mailed him with some suggestions for certain dietary nutrients which might speed up Will’s recovery. He said Jim Little had trained some of the doctors there at the University of Utah and was highly respected for his research in the area of spinal cord injuries and recovery patterns. He ordered some labs for Will to follow through on some of Jim’s suggestions, recommended some dietary supplements for Will to take and took him off one medication and gave him two others. He also arranged from him to have his peg tube taken out so that he could proceed with the closing of the PFO.

Balancing While Bouncing Balls

Tuesday Marilyn, the physical therapist came and had Will throw a ball in the kitchen while standing on one leg. It was pretty exciting. They had three rules: don’t fall over, don’t break anything and don’t hit anybody. They were successful pretty much in keeping all three of the rules. After Will act proved that he was nearly ready for the Ring-Ling-Brothers Barnum and Baily Circus, they decided to go for a walk. It was a beautiful day and they were able to go at a good clip for over half an hour. The walk was around the upper block, down to Davis Blvd., up Bountiful Hills Drive and around the upper block again. They noticed some people kept passing them in their car. Will wondered if they were casing the joint, but decided they were probably just lost.

A Date with the Ironing Board

After the Speech Therapists left, Kelli, the occupational therapist came. She was very impressed with his daily schedule plan and had him pencil in a few more activities, like lunches, and dinners. She then had him make his own lunch. He was going for a PB and J, but thought better of it and opted for a tuna salad sandwich, chips, and pop. She had him make the sandwich and clean up afterward. She then asked him if he thought that he had included all the basic food groups in his menu. He instantly realized he had forgotten something. (It was not the Butterfingers Group. )She also had him work out for fifteen minutes on the arm bicycle to increase his endurance. To encourage him to do his own laundry, she suggested he put his laundry basket in the bathroom so he could remember to keep his laundry separate from the rest of the family. He was okay with that, but when she mentioned ironing his Sunday shirt some more, he decided it was time for her to go. She left promising to remind Marc, the other occupational therapist, that he and Will had a date with the ironing board on Thursday.

A Bunch of Blarney

At 11:00 Will's speech therapists, Kierra and Lisa came in wearin’ the green, prepared to fill him full of Blarney. It sounded like they had brought the Blarney stone with them. He was feeding them all sorts of good lines. He was using all three strategies: talking loud, over articulating, and speaking slowly with very impressive results. He did especially well on the tongue-twisters, like pass the pepper, please; funny Fanny made fudge; and Will’s favorite, Mysterious Malcolm managed to mesmerize the audience wit his mental multiplication manipulations. He and Kierra both had tickets to the Jazz/Toronto basketball game that night, so they were pretty pumped about basketball. She had him work on his water swallowing with a straw, tucking his chin in to prevent aspirating and taking smaller sips. He did just fine with that and was particularly impressive when reading "The Little Red Hen," and "Oscar’s Rotten Birthday."

Blowing Off the Family Council the Job Chart

After a family counsel on Sunday night in which Will, made a schedule for himself. He woke up Monday ready to blow the whole thing off. He slept through breakfast and shower time, which were 7:00 and 8:00 a.m., but by 9:00 he was up and ready to roll. He ate and showered in record time, played the piano, including several hymns with both hands, and worked on some of his speech therapy homework.

Cardiac Intervention

Will had a consultation this morning with Dr. Michaels and Dr. Efstratiadis of the Division of Cardiology at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center. They had already reviewed all of Will's medical records from Columbus. In addition to Will's patent foramen ovale (PFO) [aka "hole in the heart"], he has an atrial septal aneurysm (ASA). In this instance of medical-speak, aneurysm does not mean something about to burst, but rather that the wall between the left and right atria (atriums?) of the heart moves back-and-forth in Will more than it does in most people.

They acknowledge that the cause of Will's stoke is unknown, but something did cause it, and so far nothing in Will has changed to prevent a new stroke. Perhaps a clot from somewhere else in the body passed through the PFO and went to the brain; perhaps a clot formed in the heart itself because of the ASA. Both these conditions are suspected to be contributors to strokes in general, so they recommend that both be addressed, and sooner rather than later.

The closure device they recommend using is one that is rated for the ASA. It will close the PFO and will stabilize the septum. It is about the size of a quarter. It will be inserted through an incision in the groin that accesses an artery or vein to the heart. The device will be inside a narrow tube that will be threaded through the artery or vein, then inserted into the heart and deployed from the tube. They said this is the least risky of the cardiac interventions that are available today. This procedure has been available over 5 years now and about 50,000 have been done.

The doctors were willing to do it tomorrow, but Will still has his PEG tube. Although it could be done either before or after PEG-tube removal, if it is done before, Will will have to be on a certain medication for three to six months after the procedure. If it is done after the removal, the use of that medication can be avoided altogether. Will already had an appointment Thursday to decide on the PEG tube, so the procedure will be delayed a couple of days for a decision on that.

Jazz 96, Raptors 79

Will and I went to the Utah Jazz game tonight. From the moment I first mentioned the possibility to him, he was all over the idea. I told him yesterday that if he was too tired at night to go, he didn't have to, but he told me I didn't need to worry about that.

The game was really not that inspiring. Both teams played like the season had already been way too long. The most emotion all night was when a Raptor player got ejected from the game. But it was fun to be with Will, and Will seemed to enjoy himself.

Cruisin' on a Sunday Afternoon

Will attended Church today and enjoyed all three hours of the block. In the evening he accompanied Jessica and Dad as Jess practiced her driving skills. As they drove through the streets of Bountiful Will enjoyed teasing Jess in mock fright as she maneuvered through traffic and mock relief when 3-point turns were successfully completed.

Perfect Scores

Thursday his physical therapist, Marilyn came and found he could stand balanced on one leg for a minute without toppling, and could go up and down on one foot twenty times easily. His walking was very brisk and purposeful. He just needed to work on the heel to toe rotation when he went up and down hills. He got 5 out of 5 on all his physical therapy evaluations.

BLT or Hoagie?

Wednesday Will had Occupational an Speech therapy.

Kellie came with an arm bicycle for him to operate for at least ten minutes. He was able to do this exercise easily. She also had him work on a puzzle and iron a shirt. The shirt ironing left something to be desired, but after fifteen minutes of ironing wrinkles in and out, it was agreed the wrinkles were getting fewer and farther between and the project could wait for another day.

Lindsey, the speech therapist wanted to know what he had had for lunch. He had been given a choice between a bagel and cream cheese, a BLT, and hoagie sandwich. The house was pretty much reeking of bacon, but he insisted he had had a hoagie. The memory needs to be fine-tuned a little, so that has become a priority.

Speech Evaluation

Tuesday found Will demonstrating his eating skills in front of his speech therapist, Lisa. He was very impressive wolfing down a hoagie sandwich, apple, chips and a pop. Lisa’s evaluation of his eating skills was two thumbs up.

Her next evaluation consisted of a wide-ranging battery of tests on everything from tracing geometrical shapes without crossing the line, to reading sentences, writing words, trying to open your eyes while someone’s holding your lids down, coughing, and sticking out your tongue. She took copious notes on her findings and then left him with a number or homework assignments including things like putting together a jig-saw puzzle, biting the tip of his tongue while swallowing with the back part seven times, putting a button in his mouth attached to a string of dental floss and tugging on it while reading the newspaper, saying words that start with the letter “g” while holding a knife under his nose to see if he was leaving film on the knife, reading 10 short sentences focusing on speaking slowly, loudly and over articulating, and finally having a five minute conversation with someone using those same strategies. By the time Lisa left, Will felt like he had gone through boot-camp. Bilbo Baggins in his book “There and Back Again,” had nothing on Will.

Occupational Evaluation

His occupational therapists, Marc and Lori, came in after Michelle. They had Will do a load of laundry. He did a batch of coloreds on hot, which could be interesting. They also wanted to test his use of the telephone and the telephone book so they had him look up yellow cab in the phone book in Bountiful, which doesn’t exactly have a thriving taxi service, but he was able to locate a local cab service anyway. Will won’t be able to drive for a month or two, until they’ve put him through a driver’s training course, so access to a cab could be a need. The phone number they gave him for a theater was out of order, but he wasn’t planning on taking in a movie any time soon, so it was okay.

They asked him what his main goals were. He told them he wanted to be able to talk better and to return to his residency in Ohio. They could tell he was pretty pumped about that and agreed that those were goals they could support and help him with. Marc suggested he do a task like showering or eating, take a nap of 30-45 minutes in length, and then do another task. He also recommended two short 15 minute walks, rather than one 30 minute walk. The goal of breaking out of the Zombie state looms large on the horizon right now.

General Therapist Evaluation

Monday Michelle, a registered nurse, came to our home to have Will fill out a whole battery of state-mandated forms. One look at Will’s signature erased any doubts to whether or not Will was destined to be a doctor. Michelle could recognize that hen-scratching anywhere. Will is the third doctor who has had a stroke that Dr. Edgely has treated.

Michelle said she would talk to Dr. Edgely about getting Will’s peg tube out. The peg tube was inserted in Ohio when it was discovered Will couldn’t eat. No one was counting on a milk-shake and some e-stems to catapult Will’s eating muscles back into full service, except Will. He knew he’d rather be eating a hamburger than being wakened in the night to have a stranger pour mystery liquids into his peg-tube. It’s amazing what the human spirit can achieve given the alternatives.

Church

At church Will was quite the celebrity. He was wearing one of his handsome suits, his best pair of dress shoes and sporting three day’s growth of beard, creating that rugged-doctor look which has so much eye-appeal for the single women of the neighborhood. Unfortunately most of the single women were at the Singles ward, but a most favorable impression was made on the women single or married who where there. It appears they were not expecting to see anyone so healthy and generally altogether looking.

Will attended Elders Quorum, then sat by me in Sunday School. He went to each reference in the scriptures as we discussed it, and when I was called on to read, he lent his scriptures to me since I had not brought my own.

He sang the hymns with energy in sacrament meeting, but then got drowsy about halfway through. He fought it off, but then went to bed as soon as he got home.

Reunion

Saturday night the Provo contingent of Blackhurst sibs arrived just in time for supper. The eyes of the starving students were immediately drawn to the dessert trays lined up along the counter and it wasn’t long before Jarom had sliced off a big piece of German Chocolate Cake and Ike was sampling Summer Clarke’s chocolate chip cookies.

Enter the manly wolfer of all things edible. Will quickly sizes up the situation, sees his younger brothers taking center stage in the eating department and immediately knows this is not to be tolerated. He must not be upstaged by a couple of flunkies. He goes into action, grabbing Jarom’s cake and arm wrestling Ike for the rest of the cookie. Taken off guard, the brothers were left empty handed. It was not to go uncontested. Ike immediately offered to take Will on in an arm wrestle. It was touch and go, but in the end it was declared a tie, though some thought Ike won by a hair’s breadth. Jarom, still smarting from the loss of that big piece of German chocolate cake, challenged Will to another round of arm wrestling.

The sisters, who were trying to be the cheerleading squad, were heard groaning in the background as they watched Will’s struggle for supremacy being put to the ultimate test. It was not a pretty scene as both contestants were determined to prevail. The arms of both brothers were seen pressed almost to the table, but then miraculously righted themselves and continued the match to the death.

Fortunately Nate and Dad walked in with pizzas and bags full of groceries and the contest was suspended, though Jair declared himself ultimate victor. He had given up his cake which he insisted Will finish off before he got a slice of Sister Lauder’s famous Lemon Meringue Pie. Will acquiesced, not because he was willing to admit defeat, but the chance to demonstrate his prowess at finishing off the cake and pie with no problems was not something to thumb your nose at.

The Little Caesar’s pizzas were soon polished off around a dinner table filled with conversations about the times when Will stole Becca’s favorite pair of red shoes and hid them in the attic. Will responded with plans for hopping a plane back to Ohio tomorrow and leaving Becca in the dust. Becca wished she had been left in the dust, or at least at home, as she recalled wearing Ike’s tennie runners to school and Fallon Webber calling it to the attention of the whole class. The subject of shoe wardrobes was continued when it was discovered that it took nearly the bottoms of both sides of the closet to make room for the assortment of casual, dress, semi-casual and doctor shoes that constitute Will’s shoe wardrobe. Imelda Marcos had nothing on Will.

Grandpa and Grandma Andrus and Aunt Mary Anne were totally blown away by how good he looked. Not knowing what they were expecting, it was good to get their initial impressions. Considering all that he has gone through, Will is looking terrific and continues to make good progress.

New Rehab Center

The day after Will's arrival in Utah, he visited the head of the University of Utah Physical Medecine and Rehabilitation Center, Dr. Steven Edgley. We learned just before meeting Dr. Edgley that he had suffered a stroke during his ophthamology residency. The stroke rendered him unable to perform surgery, so he switched to Rehabilitation.

Dr. Edgley seemed very thorough in his prior study of Will's case file and in the questions he asked during the assessment. He asked Will if he wanted to return to his residency. Will vigorously nodded in the affirmative. At the end of the assessment he told Will that based on his good health prior to his stroke, his young age, the considerable progress in recovery he had made in just five weeks, and the fact that it was still early in Will's recovery period, he thought Will's prospects for being able to return to his residency were good.

Goodbyes

Wednesday March 5th was a party day at Riverside Rehab.

All the residents in Will's class plus many members of the faculty and Community Outreach Programs came by to shake Will's hand, wish him well, get their pictures taken with him, and leave him with their blessing and their love. There must have been 50 or more. It was a very emotional day as they spoke of the clinics they had shared together, the times Will had served with them as home teaching companions, or fellow clinicians in cardio or infectious diseases, or been there when they were new at OSU. They spoke candidly on the issue of Will's stroke, his recovery of his ability to eat, and the promising prospects for further and hopefully complete recovery.

In the evening representatives from the Singles Ward came by. Brother Smith, entertained us with his latest trip to Israel–tempting Will's sister Sarah, the anthropology major, with accounts of the ruins of the Masada he had just visited. Doherty came with memories that she and Will shared as two of the senior members of the Singles Ward. Christian Bahr dropped by with promises of visiting Will when he comes to Bountiful after graduation from dental school, and Dave Ricks with promises to welcome him back to the ward when he returns to resume his residency at Riverside. It was a very good day.

Sarah was kept busy taking pictures to document our time here and the people that made it special, so we are including some of them to give you a little insight into Will's world.

Once again, thank you to everyone at Riverside for all you have done, and thank you to all of Will's friends and coworkers for your love and support. We could not have gone through this hard time without you. Thank you.

Goodbye, Ohio!

Thursday Will said good-by to the therapists in Rehab. They were all sorry to see him go, knowing they would miss the big-brother guy with the cheery grin, and famous spit-rag toss. Safety issues were always foremost.

The physical therapists were glad they were able to release him from such restraints as the gait belt and the retraining belt. They were going to miss his impulsive moves with the basket-ball and the baseball bat, which kept them all guessing, but in the end they felt he was beyond need of further physical therapy.

The occupational therapist had seen him advance from tipsy lunges for the bathroom door to complete composure in walking. She would miss his high fives and higher cognitive skills on the computer, and piano, and his sudden spurts of energy when he was winning "Go Fish."

The nurses were going to miss Mr. Hodini and his escapes out of the restraining belt, and his frequent miss-uses of the Call Button. His fellow rehab patients would miss the entertainment he and his fan club provided in the dining hall.

There was never a dull moment with Will as he dived for the thickened cranberry juice and terrified his speech therapist as he chugged it down, took too big of gulps of sprite, or held everyone in suspense as to his ability to handle that whole half a tuna sandwich he just stuffed in his mouth. Miraculously Will went from not being able to eat at all, to being able to handle a mouth full of sandwich and a whole lot more. The therapists had to have been proud of the changes that had taken place in the three short weeks he spent under their watchful tutelage.

At one o’clock Bishop Sonksen and his wife came and whisked Sarah, Will, and Mom out of the hospital and into their waiting cars and it was off to the airport. The day was relatively warm and sunny, and the trip happily uneventful. The Sonksens saw us to the security check and, with Sarah in charge, we managed to make it safely onto the Delta flight bound for Salt Lake City and home, without any major incidents. On the flight Mom watched as Will ordered a drink of apple juice and very slowly and carefully took sip after sip without choking once. It would have made Amy, his speech therapist proud.

The reunion at the airport was a joyful one. Wally, Becca, Nate and Jess were there to wrap their arms around us and welcome us back into the heart of the family. It was good to be home. It was good to be looking forward to sleeping in our own beds, and it was good to see that the Relief Society Sisters had provided a meal to come home to. Cafeteria food had been terrific during our stay at Riverside, but the smells and tastes of good old home cooking were something we were definitely ready for.

As we think about the many doctors, nurses, therapists, techs, friends and relatives who have come forward to say and do things that were so helpful to us during our stay in Ohio, we wish to leave you with this poem about friendship.


They are our friends whose presence comforts us,
Whose expectations are not limited
By narrowness of heart, nor by disgust.
With them no anguish is prohibited
From being shared, nor do they care to bring
To bare by force of will their views on life.
Their words shed light without intrusive means.
All their conclusions come without a knife,
For they are kind. In patience they defer
To time, well knowing that with passing days
And abstinence of light, we shall prefer
Pure conscience and the wisdom of true ways.
They are a rod which does not bend, but guides,
A stay of constancy through ebbing tides.

The constancy with which so many have all been there for us has been truly humbling. We have been comforted and strengthened by their non-judgmental attitude which has shown great sensitivity and kindness to us. As they have helped us shoulder our burdens and go forward with faith, we want you to see yourselves as we saw you, with your arms around Will, lifting him up.

March 5, 2008

On Tuesday Will did some fancy footwork with kick-boxing in physical therapy. His physical therapist was the instructor and he kept the group entertained with his fancy moves and off-the-wall commentary. He had been quite the showman earlier in the day with the basketball, passing it behind his back, making fast breaks around the corners, and dribbling down the hall with his fan club following (Sarah with the camera--a video of which will be up after we get back to Bountiful, hopefully).

During lunch he impressed his speech therapist with his ability to read the high blood pressure pamphlet in Spanish. She wanted to know where he learned Spanish. He told her while on his mission in Argentina. When she found out he had served a mission, she wanted to know if others of his family had served missions. He told her each missionary and where they had served. It was a great memory jogging exercise. We won't say where he said Isaac served.

On Tuesday night he had a bunch of friends drop by from the ward. It was great. They kept us entertained with their hair-raising accounts of no blinker lights and brake/gas pedal confusions.

One of the girls even tried to use her finger to operate the blinker on her car (which had completely broken off), but then became afraid of being electrocuted. The consensus was to leave the tinkering of the cars to the men who are eager to help the ladies. As they were leaving they requested I post the poem called "The Marriage Ship", which I read on Sunday to help explain how I felt about this whole series of unfortunate events, so here it is:

When we were wed, we went to sea
Upon a shattered rail
And put our trust in miracles
That we could make it sail.
Unmindful of its size and length,
We walked it up and down;
Until at last it grew in strength
And gained a sterner prowl
The stars of night burned ne'er so bright
As when we scanned the dark
To find the course God charted out
Before we had embarked.
Though tempests came, and billows raged,
No waves were e'er so wild
That time and patience could not find
A way to make them mild.

Then shipmates came.
I witnessed yet another miracle;
From rail to raft our vessel grew
'Till fitted out with sails,
There rode the seas majestically
A ship made from a rail.
The wind that carried it along
Blew fewer fitful gales,
But rather breathed of a perfume
No earthly presence wears.
And then I knew our ship did move
By our great Helmsman's prayers.

How happily I sail life's seas
With this well-seasoned crew.
How much I long to spend this day
And every day with you.
Oh, may the sunshine never set upon our ship at sea,
But I, within my heart, will know
The morning's sun will see
Us all together, everyone,
Each helping out the other,
'Till we in Christ are anchored down,
Each sister and each brother.

And that's how miracles are made.
It's taking what is low
And seeing not what's shattered,
But what love can make to grow.

Mom

Outpatient Therapy

When Will gets to Utah he will receive outpatient therapy from a Community Rehabilitation program affiliated with the University of Utah.

The guy who runs the program suffered a stroke when he was in medical school. The family neurologist believes that of all Utah programs it is the one with the greatest depth.

Food, Glorious Food !

On Sunday Will's speech therapist came in with, wonder-of-wonders, a hamburger!! It was actually more like a sloppy joe than a Big Mac, but hey, it had a bun and ground beef, so who's complaining? Not Will! He dove into it with all the confidence of a master Masticator. The therapist was totally blown away with how manfully he wolfed it down--few delays in swallowing, no choking, no getting stuff stuck on the roof of the mouth, no yawning between bites, just total concentration and ultimate triumph: a totally clean plate (the therapist did suggest that next time he ate a little less manfully, taking smaller bites).

The next day one of his fellow residents named Adam came by while he was eating. They had been through clinics together from September through December. He said to Dam, "Thanks for dropping by," as clearly as anything he has said yet. His speech therapist was pleased and told Will he is really making good progress. He just needs to remember these three things:

1. Slow down

2. Over-articulate

3. Speak up

(SOS)

Little did she know that he had just barely used all three the last time he called the nursing station.

Will loves the Latin dance music Sarah has been putting on since she got here. She keeps trying to entice him to get up by showing off her awesome dance moves but so far he has merely raised his blanket to shield his eyes in embarassment for her. Whether he will be able to resist when Elvis is crooning "Little Sister" remains to be seen.

Mom